VietNamNet Bridge – The threatened gecko is facing an even greater threat because its soaring price as a traditional medicine has resulted in increased illegal hunting.

The gecko, which is listed in Viet Nam's Red Book of endangered species, grows to more than 0.3kg, and is said to be fetching up to VND50-70 million (US$2,500-3,500).

Yen Thanh District's Agriculture Department vice head Pham Van Duong in central Nghe An Province said brokers came to the district about two months ago and offered to buy the geckos.

Thanh Xuan Breeding Farm owner Tran Thi Thanh Xuan, in Ha Noi, said demand for the gecko by the traditional medicine industry was increasing in both domestic and foreign markets, especially for geckos weighing more than 0.3kg.

The price rise could also be a result of rumours in neighbouring countries Malaysia and Thailand that the gecko's tongue is a cure for HIV/AIDS, its flesh is an aphrodisiac and its blood cures cancer.

The rumours spread to Viet Nam's southern provinces of Kien Giang and Tay Ninh late last year causing labourers and farmers stop their usual work to hunt or buy geckos to sell to dealers. Sources in the areas said, however, that success was mixed because the preferred large geckos were difficult to find and brokers delayed paying money.

Phan Van Chinh, of Yen Thanh District, said he had hunted geckos for months in the local forest.

Break their tails

"Geckos usually hide between rocks and hunters have to poke them out and get them to creep into a bamboo pipe in order not to break their tails," he said.

There had been noticeably fewer geckos in the district's forest over the last two months because of the numbers of people trying to catch them, so hunters had to go further afield, Chinh said.

Another hunter Nguyen Hai said gecko hunting was also dangerous. A snake bit his hand once, resulting in unconsciousness, and his partner had suffered a bad fall on a slippery rock.

However, he said he would keep searching for 0.3kg geckos to earn money to change his life.

Gecko broker Nguyen Van Tu in Yen Thanh District said he was paid a commission of VND70,000 ($3.5) for an underweight gecko but about VND3 million to VND5 million ($150-250) for a heavier one. Tu said he collected about 20-30kg of gecko each day.

Breeding farm owner Xuan said geckos normally weighed about 100-200g and cost VND200,000 ($10).

Her farm mostly supplied breeding geckos; mature ones would be used to make food or soaked in wine for drink.

"It takes about 10 years to get a gecko to 0.3kg. I'm willing to pay VND100 million ($5,000) for such a gecko," she said.

Viet Nam Oriental Medicine Association traditional practitioner Tran Van Quang said the reptile was gutted and used as an aphrodisiac and a cure for coughs and asthma; it was good for the elderly.

Big geckos were very rare, Quang said, but the larger and older the reptile was, the better the medicine worked but a gecko without tail was mostly useless.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News